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Guitars Over Guns Organization (GOGO) began in 2008 with a flagship mentoring program at North Miami Middle School in Miami, FL after CEO, Dr. Chad Bernstein, had a special learning experience with young people in a community underserved that changed his perspective on music forever. As students began performing on stage, growing in confidence, and showing what was possible when they were supported consistently in this program, the vision for GOGO became clear: young people needed trauma-informed mentors who could walk alongside them, challenge them, celebrate them, and help them imagine a future beyond their current circumstances.
What started as a research-backed music mentoring program in Miami, FL, has grown into a national movement serving young people in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, while headquarters remain in Miami.
Today, GOGO partners with schools, community centers, artists, families, supporters, and advocates to create programs that meet students where they are and help them grow over time.
Guitars Over Guns Organization (GOGO) began in 2008 with a flagship mentoring program at North Miami Middle School in Miami, FL after CEO, Dr. Chad Bernstein, had a special learning experience with young people in a community underserved that changed his perspective on music forever. As students began performing on stage, growing in confidence, and showing what was possible when they were supported consistently in this program, the vision for GOGO became clear: young people needed trauma-informed mentors who could walk alongside them, challenge them, celebrate them, and help them imagine a future beyond their current circumstances.What started as a research-backed music mentoring program in Miami, FL, has grown into a national movement serving young people in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, while headquarters remain in Miami.Today, GOGO partners with schools, community centers, artists, families, supporters, and advocates to create programs that meet students where they are and help them grow over time.
What started as a research-backed music mentoring program in Miami, FL, has grown into a national movement serving young people in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, while headquarters remain in Miami.
Today, GOGO partners with schools, community centers, artists, families, supporters, and advocates to create programs that meet students where they are and help them grow over time.
We partner with middle schools, high schools, and K-8 centers across the country to offer after-school programming that engages students in creative disciplines ranging from instrumental music (guitar, bass, drums, keys), vocals, songwriting, and music production to rap and hip hop, creative writing, spoken word, and visual art. Students receive one-on-one and ensemble instruction, close mentoring relationships, and academic support.
We operate summer camps, alumni programs, and community recording studios in neighborhood hubs that welcome participants outside of our school portfolio. Our community-based programs have collaborated with performing arts centers, parks departments, churches, and recording studios to present accessible arts-based enrichment that reaches youth in their own communities.
We operate summer camps, alumni programs, and community recording studios in neighborhood hubs that welcome participants outside of our school portfolio. Our community-based programs have collaborated with performing arts centers, parks departments, churches, and recording studios to present accessible arts-based enrichment that reaches youth in their own communities.
We partner with schools and K–8 centers to provide in-school and after-school programming that helps students build artistic skill, confidence, connection, and belonging.
Students receive hands-on instruction, mentorship, social-emotional support, and academic encouragement, with each quarter building toward an opportunity to perform live, share work publicly, and experience the confidence that comes from being celebrated by their community.
GOGO creates opportunities beyond the classroom through summer camps, alumni programming, partner activations, and community recording studios that are free and open to young people during out-of-school time — whether or not GOGO is offered at their school.
These spaces give young artists a place to turn budding ideas into finished works, with individualized mentorship that meets them wherever they are in their artistic journey. Along the way, students expand their worldview, connect with new opportunities, and discover just how far their creativity can take them.
Through M-Power, GOGO’s dedicated mental wellness initiative, students receive added support from licensed professionals and trained social work interns who help strengthen their resilience, self-awareness, and overall emotional wellness.
M-Power is woven throughout our mentorship model so students can grow creatively while feeling seen, heard, and supported as whole people.
Our students' exploration of their own creative voice.
A gateway to lasting connection between student and mentor.
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The opportunity to put it all to the test on stage.
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GOGO’s curriculum is rooted in creative youth development, using the arts as a vehicle for personal growth, skill-building, confidence, connection, and belonging. We thoughtfully evaluate our students' experience in partnership with Hello Insight, then consider that data in real time to assure our youth are fully supported and striving toward fulfilling their potential. In our sessions, students practice how to collaborate, communicate, solve problems, take initiative, depend on one another, and try again when things get hard.
Through consistent mentorship, creative risk-taking, and meaningful artistic experiences, students begin to see themselves differently.
They discover that their voices matter, their ideas belong, and they have the agency to shape what comes next for them.
This is the deeper impact of GOGO: expanding young people’s sense of who they are, what’s possible, and what they’re capable of achieving.
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